Blog

If foam is not monitored and kept at bay it can cause issues like inaccurate level indicators in tanks or the foam can grow so much that it escapes the tank, causing unsafe and slippery conditions. There are also different types of foam, it can be fluffy white foam that blows across the parking lot or dark dense foam that billows out of the manhole like a mushroom grown wild and it can also be somewhere in between the two. The trick to successfully treating foam is to figure out how the foam was generated.

Here are four of the most common reasons foam is generated:

Mechanical motion in the water, such as aeration or mixers turning at high speed – We have all seen this one in action. Tanks
usually have a light fine foam that is generated by air. This is normal, and if it stays light and dissipates, there is nothing to worry about.

Heavy solids in the water – When the “solids-load” in your tank is too high, you get a dense dark foam, as pictured on the right. This is serious and indicates a treatment issue that needs to be addressed. Once the solids load is decreased, the foam usually stops.

Surfactants in water – Surfactants, a common ingredient in cleaners, can cause foam. There are two options to treat this type of foam. Option one is simple, replace the cleaner with a non-surfactant cleaner. This is not always an option due to cleaners being spec’d in or a resistance to change the current process. If you cannot stop the surfactant upstream, you must apply either a foam dispersion or anti-foam agent. These are commonly called defoamers.

Sharing all of our technical expertise in one place.

The HH technical team presented at over 8 different tradeshows and conferences in 2016.

The Hubbard-Hall sales and technical teams travel to multiple tradeshows and conferences every year, bringing our surface finishing and wastewater expertise to as wide an audience as possible.

With a portfolio of over 2,400 customers ranging from Fortune 100 OEMs to boutique metal finishers, our team is in the perfect position to learn and absorb all the latest process improvements, industry knowledge and chemical advancements.

We have gathered a selection of our top 2016 surface finishing and wastewater presentations below, simply click on the links to view the full presentation:(more…)

We put these two common wastewater options to the test to see where their strengths and weaknesses lie.

When selecting products for their wastewater treatment (WWT) needs, manufacturers must select between commodity wastewater treatment chemicals and specialty chemicals. A closer examination of their respective strengths and weakness will help illustrate what each has to offer.

Commodity Wastewater Treatment Review

Commodity wastewater chemistry traditionally involves products like lime and calcium chloride. While the price per pound may be less expensive, using basic commodity chemistry may not be the best or most cost effective option. This option requires the addition of single components or bags which take significant time to add, labor to move them around and bring them up to the Equalization (EQ) tank, and use of a higher dosage of chemicals. Commodity chemicals also produce a significantly higher amount of sludge that must be hauled off-site.

A quick list of the most important factors to bear in mind when determining your rinsing process.

Water is becoming an increasingly expensive commodity with even further restrictions in certain areas of the country (pity the poor folks in California). As a result, there has never been a better time to give some thought to maximizing the efficiency of your rinsing process. Put simply, rinsing is a process that dilutes and then removes surface films and contaminants, reducing them to a level that won’t impede your surface finishing process.

As one of the most important steps in any metal finishing process, it’s critical to have your metals rinsed regularly and properly. A truly effective rinsing process is essentially a matter of maximizing your system’s layout, choosing the right equipment, chemicals and slotting it in at the right time in your process cycle. Get this balancing act just right, and you can reap such benefits as water conservation, decreased the demand on your waste treatment system, and the continuing smooth operation of your process line.(more…)

With the trend towards renewing, reusing and recycling in order to reduce costs, increase efficiency and strive for sustainability, Hubbard-Hall focused on providing its services to an industry that brings all three of these strands together: remanufacturing.

Remanufacturing, or “reman”, as a process goes far beyond just refurbishing parts. Remanufacturing is an industrial process that strips what are called core parts (such as automobile engines) down to their base components.

The cores are then cleaned and rebuilt to like new quality, sometimes requiring an additive manufacturing process similar to 3D printing technology to add metal directly to the core if they’ve been worn out over time.

Every Friday, our President and CEO Molly Kellogg sends out a company update to the entire Hubbard-Hall team. A few weeks ago, she shared a quote by one of her heroes:

“I never lose. I either win or I learn.” Nelson Mandela.

Molly then asked us to share our favorite inspirational quotes, and since everyone needs a little inspiration now and again we have gathered the quotes that keep the great team of Hubbard-Hall going below.(more…)

That Summer Heat Brings Odor Issues

Controlling odor is one of the most challenging aspects of industrial and municipal wastewater treatment. This challenge is heightened during the hot summer months. The first step in fixing the problem is identifying where the odor is coming from. Here are a few places we recommend you start your search for that odor:

Rinse Tanks

Air Scrubbers

Pump Stations

Evaporator System

Sewer Lines

Grease Traps

Equalization Tanks

Incinerators

Found the Source, What Next?

This year marked the 25th year Hubbard-Hall has attended the highly anticipated National Association for Surface Finishing (NASF) SUR/FIN 2016 conference. In celebration, we launched our new family of organic acid cleaners at the show which was held from June 6-8th in the Entertainment Capital of the World, Las Vegas. SUR/FIN is one of the most comprehensive manufacturing and technology trade shows that connects thousands of surface finishing professionals to the industry’s foremost business suppliers, latest innovations, and the most influential leaders. Throughout the 3-day event, members of our team enjoyed the multitude of educational conference sessions, keynotes, and being on the trade-show floor.

We were particularly honored to be a part of the impressive educational program line up. Hubbard-Hall’s Senior Technical Service Engineer, Mike Valenti, had the opportunity to present during the ‘Light Materials Finishing’ session. The new type of cleaning chemistry discussed in Mike’s presentation is part of the new family of organic acid cleaners that we launched at the show. This product line has proven to increase productivity by 60%, and includes Aquaease 2289 soak cleaner, Aquaease PLA 915 spray cleaner, and Lusterbrite CBA mass finishing. The primary focus of Mike’s presentation was to educate the conference attendees on how to clean, deoxidize, and brighten non-ferrous metals in one step. (more…)

Our on-site House Calls provide you with the service and know-how to keep your WWT system running at peak efficiency.

Much like the human body, an industrial wastewater treatment (WWT) system requires maintenance and care to remain healthy. Also like the human body, maintaining peak performance requires both exact chemistry and recommendations provided by a skilled professional you can rely on. This is where an AquaPure House Call comes into play. Hubbard-Hall acts as the on-call physician for the continued health of our clients’ WWT systems, providing on-site house calls to give system evaluations, process optimization, and operator training. 515 on-site wastewater house calls in 2015 reduced production shut downs, slowdowns, and bottlenecks for AquaPure users.(more…)

Recent Posts

Welcome to our new blog!

Our mission is to use chemistry, expertise and service to help manufacturers tackle complex surface finishing and wastewater treatment problems. This mission is the driving force behind our new blog, which allows us to share our 167 years of industry knowledge with manufacturers.